What If Earth Were Under Quarantine? | Unveiled

What If Earth Is Under Quarantine?

Loneliness seems to be part of the human condition. A 2018 survey conducted by American health organization Cigna found that at least half of respondents felt alone sometimes or always. When considering our position in the universe, this isn’t surprising. After all, we seem to be alone in the incredibly vast stretch of space around us. But what if we’re being avoided for a reason?

This is Unveiled and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; What If Earth Is Under Quarantine?

One of the largest mysteries surrounding our place in the universe is why no aliens have made contact with us yet. Given the number of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy alone - up to 40 billion - and the 13.8 billion years that our universe has existed, it’d be strange if we were the only intelligent life forms around. Earth’s history suggests that life is not a rare occurrence. Our planet formed 4.5 billion years ago and life appeared not long after; some fossils suggest life could be as old as 4.29 billion years, which would be a very short time after Earth’s oceans formed. Not only that, but surviving five mass extinction events has proven life’s adaptability and survivability. And once humans evolved, we went from building simple tools to flying to the moon in only 3 million years. There’s a chance that other intelligent life out there has been evolving for many millions, or even billions, of years.

If some of that intelligent life were quarantining us, we would know by now, wouldn’t we? Not necessarily. To animals born and bred in captivity, their cages seem normal to them because they haven’t known anything else. Our solar system could be mimicking our natural habitat the same way our zoos do. Like a cage, the solar system is extremely hard to escape. The Oort cloud, a massive cloud of debris surrounding our entire solar system, is the last stop before interstellar space and could be thought of as the icy bars on this cage. Even passing through those bars could take up to 30,000 years. And since it’s unlikely that we can ever travel faster than light, chances are that we’ll be trapped here unless we learn to further manipulate spacetime in some way to form wormholes. It's a perfect quarantine zone for unadvanced beings.

Why quarantine us, though? What do other beings stand to gain? There are a number of theories considered by professional astronomers. One of these is the Zoo Hypothesis, which states that aliens know we’re here but refuse to make contact and instead keep us isolated. Astronomer John Ball first thought up the idea in a paper in 1973, and the idea has stuck around because it explains our solitude in the cosmos. This could be because higher beings think we have the right to pursue our own destiny and don’t want to influence our evolution in any way. Just as we do with uncontacted tribes, aliens could see us as primitive and view it as a crime to interfere. Then again, it could even be because they view contacting us as a risk. Humans have a history of violence, and aliens might not see the benefit in risking contact. We could even be an actual zoo for the aliens, a form of entertainment that they watch from a remarkable distance with technology we’re unaware of. Or maybe we’re test subjects in an experimental form of natural observation.

If aliens are purposefully quarantining us, how could we escape? One viable method might just be to ask them. This might be challenging, but not impossible. If we assume that other aliens live in the closest star system to us, Proxima Centauri, it would take 4 years for a signal to reach them. If they’re farther away, it could take hundreds or even thousands of years. If they are actively watching us, however, a simpler method might be to prove our intelligence with an action. If we act in a way that shows we know that we’re being observed, they might intervene. Douglas Vakoch, president of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) gave the example of a zebra looking at us from its cage and tapping out prime numbers with its hoof. Such an action would demonstrate awareness and force us to further examine the zebra. Perhaps our equivalent is building bases on other planets. If aliens see us expanding our influence and living on other planets, they might finally intervene.

But, if it came to just escaping ourselves, could we? Not currently. However, if higher beings are able to quarantine us and travel quickly, then there is a way to overcome the vast distances in space and the universal speed limit. We would have to discover that method if we ever hope to leave the confines of our solar system.

If we do one day visit those star systems, what would await us? Assuming the Zoo Hypothesis is correct, we would likely see many other habitable planets and civilizations and a massive society where they all communicate. Nicolas Prantzos, director of CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), points out that higher beings would almost certainly develop interstellar methods of colonization, to satisfy their own curiosity regarding extraterrestrial intelligence. If that’s the case, then we’d likely see a higher society of different species, with others still in isolation. Other isolated planets would be at various stages of technological innovation, and the different species of advanced life would have some sort of agreement or law in place about interfering.

However, it could also be that the other civilizations are already dead, and we’d find nothing but remnants of their society. The Great Filter theory suggests that we haven’t encountered evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence because civilizations are likely to kill themselves when they develop certain technologies, such as exotic types of matter.

Then again, we could also be quarantined out of a desire to maintain power. The first civilization to develop intergalactic travel might have come up with the idea of quarantining every other civilization to keep interstellar colonization a technological secret. They could even visit these societies when they’re close to achieving that secret to wipe them out and maintain galactic control. Richard Dawkins suggested that, in a metaphoric sense, genes are selfish and desire immortality. Such greed may even be required for intelligent civilizations to form - self-preservation requires cooperation, and greed could be the only consistent cross-species motivation. Perhaps the civilizations that keep others in isolation are the greediest, and their desire to maintain their resources and power necessitates keeping other lesser civilizations in the dark.

Why haven’t aliens made contact? For now, we can only speculate. But the sheer number of possible avenues for life to form points to there being many other potential civilizations out there. If that’s really true, then the Zoo Hypothesis starts making a lot of sense. If the idea that we’re alone in the universe is unlikely, then perhaps we were forced into isolation by a higher species. Maybe one day we’ll break free and finally join this advanced society - or maybe they pay us a visit before that’s necessary.

And that’s what would happen if Earth were under Quarantine.